NFPA standard addresses improved safety for ambulances
Updated National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1917, Standard for Automotive Ambulances, 2016 edition, should make runs for paramedics and other first responders safer, according to Michael E. Newman, senior communications officer, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Design guidelines for ambulance patient compartments were developed by NIST, the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
As Newman explains, “Emergency medical service (EMS) providers riding in the back of current-design ambulances are at high risk of injury or death during a crash or an evasive traffic maneuver if they’re not using restraints. However, they often complain that restraints make it difficult to access and treat patients while en route to a hospital.”
Between 1992 and 2011, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates there was an average of 4,500 vehicle crashes involving ambulances annually, a third of which resulted in injuries.
The scope of NFPA 1917 (1.1) is to “define the minimum requirements for the design, performance, and testing of new automotive ambulances used for out-of-hospital medical care and patient transport.”
Jennifer Marshall, homeland security program manager in NIST’s Special Programs Office, notes: “With the new design standards, emergency personnel should be able to do nearly 95 percent of their tasks while properly restrained. For the first time, we now have a voluntary consensus standard that includes testing and performance requirements from a crash perspective.”
NFPA 1917, 2016 edition, will go into effect on January 1, 2016. Additional information and a short video showing the dangers of ambulance crashes are at http://1.usa.gov/1PGkRUm.
Tyco, ANSUL launch online Museum of Fire Protection
Tyco Fire Protection and the ANSUL brand have launched the online Museum of Fire Protection (http://passionforfireprotection.com/?#) as part of the celebration of ANSUL’s 100th anniversary. The site uses video, photos, and text to share the story of the fire protection industry over the past century, chronicling how ANSUL and others have used cutting edge science to protect people and property around the world.
Broken rail cause of Mount Carbon (WV) Derailment
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) identified a broken rail as the cause of the February 16, 2015, CSX/Plains All American derailment in Mount Carbon, West Virginia, in which 27 cars derailed and a fire ignited immediately and burned for days.
The official cause of the incident was a “broken rail, resulting from a vertical split head rail defect.” CSX and its contractor Sperry Rail Service had not detected the defect in two separate inspections on December 2014 and January 2015. Both were fined $25,000 by the FRA.
In the report, the FRA said it was taking the following actions to prevent similar rail-caused accidents in the future:
- Release a Safety Advisory strongly recommending that closer and more detailed inspections be conducted when defects and flaws are suspected and that rail inspection vehicle operators be given more intense training.
- Explore the need for rail-head wear standards and potentially require railroads to slow trains or replace a rail when certain conditions pose a safety risk.
- Have CSX require internal rail flaw operators to review previous inspection data alongside real-time data so they can identify conditions and flaws that have changed or worsened between inspections. The FRA has received CSX’s commitment to do this.
FRA Acting Administrator Sarah Feinberg noted: “All railroads, not just CSX, must be more diligent when inspecting for internal rail flaws or when contracting out inspection work. This is just our latest effort to increase the safe transportation of crude and other energy products.”
The FRA Accident Findings Report is at www.fra.dot.gov/eLib/Details/L17123.
NIOSH and NFPA study removing PPE contaminants
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and its Fire Protection Research Foundation (Foundation) recently renewed an agreement that would have them continue to work collaboratively on projects and initiatives, especially those addressing firefighter health and safety.
The Foundation recently received nearly $900,000 in Assistance to Firefighter Grant (AFG) funding for a three-year, four-phase research project to identify the most effective ways to remove contaminants from firefighter personal protective equipment (PPE).
“Cancer is a leading concern for fire fighter health and is presumably linked to fireground exposures and associated PPE contamination,” said Casey Grant, executive director of the Foundation. “The ultimate goal of this project is to find out whether existing practices are truly removing those contaminants from PPE so we can better protect fire fighters from related risks.” He says that although NFPA 1851, Standard on Selection, Care, and Maintenance of Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting, has established some procedures, “more science is needed to support, clarify, and enhance them.”
Grant points to the Ebola outbreak as an example of an area in which more information is needed: “We don’t know what it scientifically takes to remove air- and blood-borne pathogens that first responders come in contact with.”
In a separate, initial phase one research study, the focus was on gathering information to identify persistent chemical contaminants in firefighter PPE and how they can be best characterized. The NFPA and a consortia of industry sponsors funded this research. The AFG-funded research study will expand the scope of the phase one study and provide the resources to evaluate different cleaning processes, address biological contaminants, and develop guidance for the fire service.
In addition to NIOSH, additional project partners included in the project are Intertek Testing Services, the contractor for phase one, and International Personnel Protection, Inc. The project team will also work with current providers of firefighter clothing cleaning services and consult a panel of fire service representatives for technical advice.
LINE-OF-DUTY DEATHS
September 18. Firefighter/EMT Daniel Edward Hampton, 35, Burnet (TX) Fire Department: vehicle collision.
September 23. Firefighter/Former Chief Sean M. Benson, 50, Paramus (NJ) Fire Department: heart attack.
September 23. Assistant Chief of EMS/Firefighter Barry Miller, 50, Bergen (NY) Fire Department: vehicle collision.
September 24. Firefighter/EMT Stuart Hardy, 31, Burton Fire District, Beaufort, SC: medical emergency suffered at the scene of a motor vehicle accident on September 13.
September 26. Firefighter Richard Leo Crosby, 67, Casnovia Township Fire Department, Bailey, MI: cardiac arrest suffered on September 24.
October 7. Lieutenant Antonio Smith, 47, Memphis (TN) Fire Department: unknown.
October 12. Fire Apparatus Operator Larry J. Leggio, 43, Kansas City (MO) Fire Department: injuries suffered in collapse at structural fire.
October 12. Firefighter John V. Mesh, 39, Kansas City (MO) Fire Department: injuries suffered in collapse at structural fire.
October 13. Captain Charles “Chuck” Horning, 54, Townsend Township Fire Department, Collins, OH: to be determined.
October 14. Fire Police Officer Gerald “Bear” Celecki, 70, Perth Amboy (NJ) Fire Department: to be determined.
Source: USFA Firefighters Memorial Database
Fire Engineering Archives
